Global Philosophies
Climate Change Ideologies Intro The issue of Global Warming is surrounded by many ideologies, some of these include alarmists, activists, and people in denial about the issue of Global Warming. Having all of these different ideologies about Global Warming impacts the different types of changes the the world will take Climate Change Alarmist A climate change Alarmist believes that climate change is happening right now and we need to do something about it before even more drastic changes will happen in the weather and the polar ice caps will completely melt causing sea levels to rise covering cities in water. Climate Change Activists Another ideology is a climate change Activists believe: * Global Warming is happening and is human caused * Global Warming is a serious threat * Global Warming is solvable * Their own actions can help make a difference * Serve as opinion leaders in their communities Lately climate change activism has been uncommon in the US but lately due to a growing movement pushing the government to do something climate change Activism has increased. Another reason why it's becoming more common for people to be climate change Activists is because we are starting to see different changes in nature such as large storms and very warm winters. People in Denial Along with the many views on climate change some believe that climate change is a hoax. More than a quarter of the American population believes that global warming is something put up by some communist plot or that it just doesn’t exist. Some reasons would be that when you ask a person who is in denial about global warming they will say things like,"it's actually getting colder where I live, I hunt a lot and it was so cold my toes were blue." Many other people will say that the earth is just going through a Natural Cycle every couple hundred years and climate change is not affected by humans at all. Over the last 800,000 years the earth has cooled down and that is normal according to the past cycle. The large amounts of CO2 and other green house gasses are just a way of the earth to heat up because without it the earth's temperature would go up at a slower rate and living in the last 10,000 years during the time where human civilization had reached up to many great things. The earth is now just going through a normal natural cycle. Coal Coal is known for its very high carbon content so when its burned it gives off the most CO2 than any other fossil fuel. 83 percent of the US electricity comes from burning fossil fuels, mainly coal. To get coal you have to mine and mining causes more methane to release into the atmosphere. Methane is a greenhouse gas that it 25 times greater of an impact of the green house gas effect on the earth causing the earth to heat up faster. There are different greenhouse gas regulators like the Clean Air Act, Endangered Species Act, and National Environment Policy Act. Although these different acts exist there are still many companies not following these rules because the rules are not enforced harshly. Coal has been around for a long time in fact we have been using it since the industrial revolution for everything. Now companies are being told that they need to switch over to more earth friendly ways to get electricity and drive cars. The cost for the world to convert to renewable clean energy would be 32.34 trillion dollars which is a lot but in the long run it would cost you less than what the world is paying for fossil fuel energy. Climate Change in Developing Countries Many developing countries depend on their local farms for food and money but with recent weather changes due to climate change it has been very difficult for small village farmers to keep their crops healthy and ready to eat. For example a farmer in Bangladesh gave a speech about how heat temperatures rising, and lack of rain was hurting his crops, then after he gave that speech there was a massive flood that took his house, vegetables, and village. Lower and Middle class are responsible for over half of carbon emissions in the world. With large carbon emissions developing countries are also at a higher risk of damage from destruction of storms caused by climate change because it will decrease their health status and comfortable way of living. Scientists vs. Politics The public’s concern on global warming can vary from person to person. It is said that the section of the public that has had a college education or a high level understanding of science are usually concerned about global warming while on the other hand the section of the public that is conservative tends to not be so concerned about global warming. Many scientists will go out into the public and inform them on their findings about global warming which usually agree with the other 97 percent of scientists saying that global warming is real and is caused by humans. With any issue that deals with the safety of the public there will be many debates of whether or not global warming is real because of how it deals with each individual person and their everyday life.